If Democrats are the big spenders, why do Republican states get the money?

[bigtree]

from Slate: http://www.slate.com/id/2276583/


Thursday, Dec. 2, 2010

____ The "red" states up in arms about government spending receive the largest share of it. This is not a new finding, but research by economist Gary Richardson at the University of California-Irvine backs it up. Richardson provides insight into how the paradox came about and what it means for the future.

It isn't surprising that the more Republican a state leans, the more likely it is to be furious about government spending. But what is surprising is that states with the highest anti-spending sentiment appear to be the largest beneficiaries of government spending. Not only do red states swallow the lion's share of government spending, but Richardson found a linear relationship between the extent of GOP support in a state—and, by implication, the fervor of its anti-government sentiment—and the amount of federal largesse the state receives.

Alaska, home to Sarah Palin, and where two fiscally conservative Republican candidates for Senate recently mopped up 75 percent of the vote between them, received $1.64 in federal benefits for every $1 the state contributed to the national kitty. Massachusetts, Richardson found last year, received 82 cents for every dollar it paid into the national pool. No doubt as compensation, liberals in Massachusetts and other "blue" states also received lots of vitriol for being such out-of-control spenders.

The 28 states where George W. Bush won more than 50 percent of the vote in 2004 received an average of $1.32 for every dollar contributed. The 19 states where Bush received less than 50 percent of the vote collected 93 cents on the dollar.

____ No sane person would argue that every state should get precisely as much as it puts in. Different states will need larger or smaller benefits at different points of time. But Richardson's data don't just show that the redistribution of resources correlates with a state's political orientation. They show that the amount of money being collected from Democratic states and redirected to Republican states has systematically grown over time.


read more: http://www.slate.com/id/2276583/

[Tippy]

1. K&R....We have been brainwashed........

The beauty of the trick, from a psychological point of view, is not that Republicans serve their constituents. It is that Republicans have succeeded in making Democrats feel lousy for being out-of-touch elitists who can't be trusted to keep spending under control.

[glinda]

2. This should be a Dem talking point mantra on the media.

[obxhead]

6. That is where the problem is, the media. nt

[rfranklin]

3. The Republicans always project their vices onto others...

Their constituents are the same ones parading around with signs saying, "Keep Your Gubmint Hands Off My Medicare"

[and-justice-for-all]

4. Pukes are two faced fucking liars...nt

[stopbush]

5. CA gets back $.78 for every $1 we send to DC.

That means that $48-BILLION a YEAR leaves CA and ends up in red states, states that are basically freeloading off CA, NY, NJ and others.

And this while we're running a $20-billion deficit.

When Reagan was prez, we got $1 back for every $1 we sent to DC. Now, we get squat.

How is that fair?

[Brickbat]

7. This is one of my biggest pet peeves regarding how my taxes are spent. It fucking pisses me off to

support people who claim they don't want support.

[butterfly77]

8. Kicked&Recommended...

[galileoreloaded]

9. I believe it is attributable mostly

to land mass and distances required to travel between major cities and the Interstate Highway system....

I say fuck the interstates, but other people like them so oh well.....

[Doctor_J]

10. Here you go

[Recursion]

11. Military bases and Medicaid

It can be a little misleading to take that too literally; a lot of that spending is military bases. There aren't many in the denser, more urban liberal areas because they need open land.

Also, the more conservative states have shitty public health programs and a lot of very poor people, which means they use a lot of Medicaid money.